Book Review: No Little Women

I first heard about Aimee Byrd's No Little Women a few years ago, and I quickly downloaded an e-version of the book. For various reasons, I never did finish reading it.  I always wanted to though, so I chose this book as the second for my 2019 reading.

Byrd begins her book by pinpointing the problem of "little women" in the church.  This phrase refers to 2 Timothy 3:6-7, where Paul warns of false teachers "who creep into households and capture weak (little) women".  Byrd warns that, "in many cases, women's ministry becomes a back door for bad doctrine to seep into the church".  She asserts that women need to have good theology.  However, as Byrd points out, so many devotionals targeted at women slyly distort the truth.

How does one solve this problem and avoid becoming one of the "little women" mentioned in 2 Timothy?  Byrd encourages women to develop discernment.  "Do the hard work of learning his Word and becoming so familiar with it, through time and study in it, that we know him and his character well".  Then, we will be able to discern whether what we are reading is consistent with Scripture.  Byrd encourages women to read more, read well, and read from trusted sources.  "A vital skill for becoming a competent woman is learning how to read well.  We need to be alert and equipped, because Christian bookstores don't have genre labels like 'fluff' and 'I may look like I have my life together more than you, but I'm about to wreck your theology'."

I loved this part of Byrd's book.  I agree with her assessment of women's devotionals and her cry for discernment.  As a woman who is currently involved in choosing and leading women's Bible studies, I take this very seriously.  What our church group studies must be consistent with the beliefs taught in our church.

Along with Byrd's encouragement, she also lists some examples of writings that are not doctrinally sound.  While I agree with the majority of her assessments, I did feel there were times she focused too much on the specific wording of an author rather than his intent. 

The remainder of Byrd's book addresses the role of women in the church, how pastors and church leaders can encourage women to develop good doctrine, and gives examples to practice discernment skills.

Overall, I really appreciated Byrd's book.  There is a lot to glean from her writing, and I would recommend it especially to women involved in women's ministries, and to men who are leaders of the church.

Rachel's Rating:

★★★★☆



 

Book Review: Kat Makes

Kat Makes is a cute, easy-to-read book in Brenda Ponnay's Kat Can series.  I enjoyed listening to this 8-page book being read by my kindergartener.  The repetition of the words "Kat makes" helped my kindergartener remain confident in her reading.  The quality illustrations provided useful clues when she stumbled across unfamiliar words.

 

 

This book was a quick, easy read.  It was enjoyable, and the ending brought a smile to my little reader's face.  This book is set to release on February 15, 2019.  We hope to see more from Brenda Ponnay in the future!

 

Thanks to NetGalley for making this book available for an honest review.

Book Review:. The Gift of Church

Taken from a blog posted by me in 2010:

I was excited when I found out that I had the opportunity to do my first official book review.  Then I faced a difficult decision:  What book would I choose that would be pertinent to my own life, as well as to the life of you, my blog reader?

I chose Jim Samra's The Gift of Church.  I do believe the local church is a gift to Christians, and I am saddened when I hear loved ones express the frustrations and difficulties they have experienced within their own local church.  I read in anticipation, eager to find some truths that I could share with these loved ones to encourage them to persevere in their trials.

In his introduction, Samra acknowledges that the church has been hypocritical, among other things, "and worst of all has been these things while claiming to represent God".  With all the failures of the church, why is it so important for Christians to be involved?  Simply put, "God designed and created the church for our benefit and for his glory".  The church is God's idea!

Samra walks the reader through the different parts of Scripture, showing what God designed the church to be and how He designed it to function.  Samra clearly points out the difference between churches and parachurch organizations and shows the benefits that can only truly be found in churches.  He also candidly discusses possible hindrances to the community that should be found in the church.  His conclusion brings the reader back to the fact that the church is the place where "God's infinite grace is highlighted".  What a great reminder that the church is God's design, and it is intended for His glory.

I would encourage any of you who are questioning the importance of being involved in a local church to read this book.  Although the writing is somewhat difficult to follow at times, the content is excellent.  Samra does not attempt to ignore or sugar-coat the problems that are all too often found in our churches, but addresses them with candor.  Perhaps the problems in our churches actually stem from the heart attitudes of you and me.  Or perhaps the answer to the problems in our churches is actually the involvement and dedication of you and me.

* This book was given to me for review purposes, and I do not have to return the book to the publisher. All opinions expressed in this post are mine.

Book Review: None Like Him

One of my goals for 2019 was to read one book a month.  Fiction has always been easy for me to read.  I can fly through a fiction book in a long evening, forsaking all responsibilities in the meantime.  Non-fiction seems to be a different story.  I get lost, become uninterested, or just plain fall asleep.  To help overcome this, I am choosing to focus on non-fiction for the bulk of my 12 books this year.

First on my list of books to read in 2019 was Jen Wilkin's None Like Him: 10 Ways God is Different From Us (and why that's a good thing).

The opening line of Wilkin's book drew me in and made me feel as though she and I could be good friends.  She does an excellent job of sprinkling personal anecdotes throughout this theologically-rich book.  True to the title, Wilkin clearly conveys why it is a good thing that God is different from us.  She does this in a way that is practical and applicable.  Each of the ten chapters of this book begins by defining and explaining an attribute of God.  This is followed by examples of how we cannot attain these attributes, were never intended to, and how it is truly a good thing we cannot.

I loved everything about this book.  The content was deep, though easy to read.  I had many "ah-ha" moments as I read, as well as some conviction on areas where my thinking and actions have not been correct.  Overall, I found her book to be very challenging and encouraging, and I am excited to read more by this author in the future!  This is definitely a book I would recommend to others.

Rachel's Rating:
★★★★★

Family Vacation

This week we took our first-ever, official family vacation.  We have had several visits to see family, but I consider this our first official vacation because: 

                        1) We stayed in a hotel. 

                        2) We ate out (or in the hotel dining area) for every meal. 

                        3) We did fun things every day. 

                        4) It was just the 4 of us!

We left Wednesday morning, July 4th.  The girls "helped" me pack my bag: 

Our destination was Grand Rapids, Michigan.  My husband and I both lived there for a time before we were married, and it had been over 5 years since we had seen a lot of the places we used to frequent.  Our first vacation destination was....Cornerstone University/Grand Rapids Theological Seminary.  Boo refered to this as "Daddy's Pastor School".  :)

It was HOT!  Baby Cakes relaxed in her stroller with Diggity Dog.

We took a family picture.

Daddy was showing his mad pole-climbing skill as two little girls screamed in terror.  :)  They did NOT like him doing this.  He came back down just after this picture was taken.  No bell-ringing that day!

Boo got over her terror and tried to climb the pole herself.

They're just so cute.

We had some time to kill before hotel check-in time, so we headed to the mall for awhile.  Boo rode her favorite ride...

And even let Baby Cakes join her for awhile.

Boo enjoyed staying in a hotel for the first time (that she can remember).  She loved having this big bed to herself, and she did pretty well staying quiet so that others could sleep.  She told us she wanted to live there.

The girls loved sitting in this chair and being spun round and round.

On Thursday, we went to the zoo.  We saw monkeys...

Baby Cakes liked the penguins.

The favorite for both of the girls seemed to be the bears though.  I loved hearing Baby Cakes growl at them .  Soooo cute!

Boo named one of the bears Cabela Bear (after her beloved stuffed bear), and Daddy named the other Mike.

With Cabela Bear:

The girls banged on the drums...

And Baby Cakes LOVED that.

Boo showed off her balancing skills.

And we visited the children's area.

Did I mention how HOT it was this week?!  Baby Cakes would not let this cup out of her hands.

Friday we went to Rockford.  This is the Rockford Dam.  This place will always be special to me, as this is where my husband proposed - 6 years ago, July 30th.

We sat on "our bench" (which has since been relocated a few feet) and Boo took our picture.  Pretty good for a 3 year-old.

6 years ago, I never would have guessed that the next time I would be back in Rockford, I would be with my husband and 2 little beauties.  So blessed.  And how cute is this?!

 We went to a second mall on Friday.  Boo got to ride on a frog.

 And more fun rides.

The girls enjoyed Taco Bell.  Boo had her first-ever taco, and Baby Cakes enjoyed a cheese roll-up.  Mmmmm...Mommy is so excited to share my love of Taco Bell with another generation!

 We had a lot of fun just relaxing and enjoying the places in and around Grand Rapids.  We swam in the pool.  We ate lots of good food.  We took naps and even slept well at night.  (This is quite an accomplishment with two little ones in one hotel room!)  It was a nice change of pace.

Mostly, we just enjoyed having Daddy with us all day for 3 days and spending time as a family.